In the German periodical "Bander, Bleche, Rohre", 1978, vol. 8, pp. 327 and 328, there has been described a continuous-production process in the manufacture of pipes, welded along longitudinal seams, whereby metal strips of indefinite length are made from limited-length rolled-strip sections by welding the trailing end of one strip section to the leading end of a succeeding strip section. Lest the performing of the welding operations between adjoining ends of consecutive strip sections interrupt the continuous further processing of the strip material, there is integrated into the tube-making plant a strip store in which the moving strip material is temporarily accumulated in the form of a coil, with a significant number of turns, from which it can subsequently be withdrawn for further treatment.
This known system for the manufacture of elongate metal strips has the disadvantage of requiring considerable equipment since, in addition to the strip store designed as a so-called "supercoiler" with an outer diameter of more than 14 meters, there is also needed in each instance an inlet and an outlet twist track of relatively great length for the strip material, each requiring a plant area of corresponding length for its accommodation.